The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-06-02
NATIONAL ENCAMPNENT.
REV. DR.. T. DEWITT TALMAGE'S STIR
RING ADDRESS

RING ADDRESS
To The MiIitiamen from ThIrty-one States
and Territories in Camp at Washing
ton-DrilIed soldiery Superior to the
UndriIIed.
WASHINGTON, May 90 Soldiers of the
national drill listened this afternoon to
sermon by the Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage, D.
D. Soldiers from thirty-one states and terri
tories were present, and nineteen governors
and their STATS. Washington is full of stran-
gers attendant upon the national drill, having
forits object Improvement in military science,
which began May 23 ed will close to-
morrow. The music before and after the
sermon this afternoon was conducted by mill
tary bands Dr. Talmage's texts were taken
from | Chronicles xii, 33, "Fifty thousand
which could keep rank" and Judges Xxx, 16,
every one could sling stones at hair
breadth and not miss" The preacher said:
Companies of infantry, cavalry, artillery
and Zouaves, please notice the first Scripture
passage applauds the soldiers of Zebulun be-
cause they were disciplined troops. They
may have been inefficient at the start and
laughed at by old soldiers because they
seemed so clumsy in the line but it was drill,
drill, drill until they could keep step as one
man. Fifty thousand which could keep
rank" The second Scripture passage ap-
plauds a regiment of singers in the tribe of
Benjamin because they are dexterous marks
men. When they first enlisted they may
have been an awkward squad and all their
fingers were thumbs, but they practiced until
when they aimed at a mark they always hit
it. Every one could sling stones at a hair
I),tl
ing to show us that if we must fight we
should do it well.
There Is something absorbing in the military
science of the Bible. In oden times all tho
men between 90 and 80 years of age were
enrolled in the army, and then a levy was
made for "a special service. There were only
three or four classes exempt; those who had
built house and had not occupied it; those
who had planted garden and had not reaped
the fruit of it, those who were engaged to be
married and yet had not led the bride to the
altar; those who were yet in the first year Of
welded life; those who were SO nervous that
they could not look upon an enemy but
they fled, and could not look upon blood but
they tainted
The army was in three divsions--the center
and right and left wings. The weapons of
defense were helmet, shield, breastplate,
spear iavelin, q row, catapult-which was
merely bow sW urg by machinery, shooting
arrows at vast distances, great arrows one
arrow as large as several men could lift, and
ballista, which was sling swung by machin-
cry, hurling great rocks and large pieces of
lead to vast distances. The shields We're
made of woven willow work with three thick
nesses of hide and loop inside through which
the arm of the warrior might be thrust; and
when these soldiers were marching to attack
an enemy on the level, all these shields
touched each other, making a wall moving
but impenetrable; and then when they at
tackled fortress and tried to capture a bat
tlement this shield was lifted over the head
so as 70 resist the falling missiles. The breast
plate was made of two pieces of leather
brass covered, one piece falling over the
breast, the other falling over the back. Al
the side of the warrior the two pieces fast
ened with buttons or clasps.
The bows were SO stout and stiff and strong
that warriors often challenged each other tt
bend one. The strings of the bow were made
from the sinews of oxen. A case like an in
yerted pyramid was fastened to the back
that case containing the arrows, SO thai
when the warrior wanted to use an arrow ht
would put his arm over his shoulder ana pul
forth the arrow for the fight The ankle O
the foot had an iron boot When wall we!
TO be assaulted battering ram was brough
up A battering ram was a great bean
swung on chains in equilibrium The batter
ing ram would be brought close up to th'
xYall and then great number of men would
take bold of this beam, push it back rs fer a
they could and then let so, and the beam be
came q great swinging pendulum of deStruc
tion.
Twenty or forty men would stand in
movable tower on the back of an elephant
the elephant made drunk with wine and thel
headed toward the enemy, and what with tn
heavy feet and the swinging proboscis and tn
poisoned arrows shot from the movabl
tower, the destruction was appalling, Wa
chaliots were in vogSe and they were on ivy
wheels so they could easily turn. A swor
was fastened to the pole between the horses
so when they went ahead the sword thrust
and when they turned around it would NOV
down. The armies carried flags beautiful
embroidered. Tribe of Judah carried a fla
embroidered with lion; tribe of Reuben
embroidered with a man; tribe of Dan, en-
broidered with cherubim, The noise of til
hosts as they moved on was overwhelming
What with the clatter of shields and til
rumbling of wheels and the shouts OF th
cootains and the Yociferation of the entir
of the sea- Because tie arts Of war hav
been advancing all these years you are not
conclude that these armies of olden time
were an uncomfortable mob. could quot
vou four or five passages of Scripture show
ing YOU that they were thoroughly drilled
they marched step to step, shoulder to shou
der. or, as my texts express II, they weT
~Fifty thousand which could keep rank, an
"Every one could sling stones at hal
breadth and not miss.
Nothing could be more important tha
this great National encampment Undrille
troops can never stand before those whic
are drilled. At time when other natlor
are giving such care to military tactics,
behooves this nation to lack nothing in skill
We shall never have another war betwee
north and south The old decayed bone
contention, African slavery, has been ca
out although here and there deprayed pol
tician takes it up to see if he can gnaw som
thing Off of it, We are floating off furth,
and further from the possibility of section
strife, but about foreign invasion am not
sure There is absolutely no room on th
continent for any other nation. / have bee
across the country again and again, and
know that we have not a half iEoh of grour
for the gouty foot of foreign despotlsm
stand on | do not know but that La
dozen nations, envious of our proSperlt
may want to give us wrestle. Durn
our civil war there were two
three nations that could hardly keep the
hands off of us 1t is very easy to pick n
tional auarrels, and if our nation escapes
much longer it will be the exception. If
foreign foe should come we want men III
those of 1912, and like those who fought {
both sides in 1862. We want them all up al
down the coast Pulaski and Fort Sumter
the same chorus of thunder as Fort Lafayet
and Fort Hamilton, men who will not on
know how to fight, but how to die VIII
such a time comes, if it ever does come, t
generations on the stage of action will sa
f'My country viii care for my family, as tn
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